


Devil is in the Details

by Madaboutagirl



Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-05 12:35:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3120365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madaboutagirl/pseuds/Madaboutagirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Jane, she just wants you to be happy.” Maura says in defense of Jane’s Mom. “And Grant is sexy in a masculine way.” </p><p>“In a masculine way? What does that even mean?” Jane asks confused, then adds<br/>“Are you kidding me? Look at me, I look desperate.” Jane is still upset about the little black dress her mother talked her into wearing tonight.</p><p>“Are you kidding me? You don’t know?” Maura asks her good friend. “You are gorgeous, my friend.”  The doctor can’t help but admire Jane in the dress and heels.</p><p>“Really?” Jane asks before considering the oddness of the interaction. “Well, thank you. I think.” She says confused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written with pieces of Season 1, episode 3 Sympathy for the devil, but not following directly.

“I don’t need a man to make me happy. Why can’t she get that?” Jane exclaims to Maura. “My god, she made me buy a dress and get all gussied up for what? Joey Grant? A guy I’ve known since grade school!” Jane fled her mother’s house with a bottle of wine and is at the morgue with Maura/ As the two women sip wine and rehash the evenings events, Maura tries to console Jane. 

“Jane, she just wants you to be happy.” Maura says in defense of Jane’s Mom. “And Grant is sexy in a masculine way.” 

“In a masculine way? What does that even mean?” Jane asks confused, then adds “Are you kidding me? Look at me, I look desperate.” Jane is still upset about the little black dress her mother talked her into wearing tonight.

“Are you kidding me? How do you not know?” Maura asks her good friend. “You are gorgeous, my friend.” The doctor can’t help but admire Jane in the dress and heels.

“Really?” Jane asks before considering the oddness of the interaction. “Well, thank you. I think.” She says confused. Then putting her wine glass down, Jane says, “I”m just going to go solve this murder.”

Later that night, Jane wakes up on her couch to a loud crash. Grabbing her gun and jumping up to see what caused the sound she sees a broken vase of flowers on the floor in the kitchen. Jo is still sleeping in her bed and there’s no way she could have knocked the vase off the counter. Sufficiently freaked out, she calls Maura.

Knock, knock. “Jane?” She calls softly.

Jane looks through the peephole to confirm it is Maura, then lowers her gun and opens the door. Maura walks in wearing an overcoat and her pajamas. She pauses a moment to look at Jane holding the gun. Sensing the awkwardness, Jane looks at her gun, then moves over to the kitchen counter and sets it down. 

“Maura thanks for coming over. Look, I’m just a bit spooked. 

“Want me to do a brain scan?” The doctor asks. 

“So you think I’m crazy too? Great!” Jane says stalking across the room. 

Between the dream of the boy and the purple flowers and then the broken vase in my kitchen. What the hell is going on in here?” she says tapping her temple.

“Jane, you’re not crazy.” Maura says. “Wait did you say he was holding purple flowers?” Maura asks. Sitting down at Jane’s computer she types quickly. “Did they look like this?”

Walking over to the laptop, Jane looks at the screen. “Yes, I think so. Are they poisonous?” 

“Yes, Jane they are poisonous. But they are hard to detect on a normal tox screen. First thing in the morning I'll order a more complex screen and see what turns up.” She says standing up and adds, “Can we get some sleep now?”

Smiling at her friend, she walks over and turns the lights off. “May as well, come in here, you are still in your pajamas.” She motions for her friend to join her in her bedroom.

Laying side by side in Jane’s bed, Maura can feel how stressed Jane is so she reaches out for her friend’s hand and rolls over to hold on to her arm and rests her head on her shoulder. Comforted by her friend, Jane closes her eyes and relaxes a bit. Soon they are both sleeping soundly. 

The next morning, Jane wakes up startled by her alarm and then by the arm resting across her stomach. Maura wakes up when Jane sits up and pulls her arm away. 

“I’ll make coffee, do you want to shower here?” She asks leaving the room.  
“Jane, I need to run home first, I’ll just meet you at the station. Maura says walking into the living room. Spotting her coat on the chair, she puts it on, steps into her shoes and walks over to the door.  
“My coffee isn't that bad!” She says as Maura opens the door. 

“Jane, it’s only slightly better than the coffee at work” The doctor says as she heads out the door.

***

Catching Frost up on the lead from the night before, but skipping the part where she dreamed it, Jane looks up when she sees Maura enter the bullpen. “Any news?” She asks.

“The new screen confirmed that he was poisoned by Monks hood. And I think I know where it came from.” Maura states.

As they park the car, Jane asks Maura, “Can you type the poison in the kid to the plant that it came from?”

“No, that isn't possible.” Maura states definitively.

“Can you say that it is, to bluff for the investigation?” Jane asks.

“Bluffing is lying Jane, and no, I can’t do that. You know I can’t.” Maura says offended slightly.

“Okay, can you just go along with it if I say it then?” the detective asks getting frustrated.

“Yes, I think I can do that.” The doctor smiles in relief.


	2. Chapter 2

Back at the Robber, Jane and Frost are celebrating closing the case. The step-mother confessed to poisoning the boy with the Monk’s Hood. 

“Wait, are you saying that you dreamed about the purple plant and that’s why Maura ran that last toxicology report? What are you “The Boston Medium’ all the sudden?” Frost teases.

“Intuition is not unique to any individual. In fact, there are many ways to develop and enhance your intuition abilities. Detectives by nature are typically more intuned to their 6 senses than the average person. It makes perfect sense that someone like Jane would be very intune with all of her senses…” Neither detective saw Maura approach the table, but she had their full attention as she spoke. 

Laughing and moving over to make room for her friend, Jane pushes a glass of merlot to the doctor and says, “Oh, I’m very intune, in fact I sensed that Dr Isles would like a glass of Merlot after work…” 

“Or maybe its because that’s the only wine they have here that she likes?” Frost says laughing. 

“Jane, you should keep a dream journal. Who knows how many of your cases you could solve in your sleep!” Maura says enthusiastically. 

“Yeah, Jane don’t you remember that from the Academy!” Frost adds sarcastically.

“Shut it Frost.” Jane says defensively. Then just to be funny she adds, “I am not clairvoyant, I can barely get my ESPN to work at home, let alone my ESP.”

“Jane, that doesn’t even make sense.” Maura says dismissing her comment.

Jane and Frost bust out laughing and Maura looks at them strangely.

“It was just a joke Maura, jeez, lighten up.” Jane says knocking the doctor with her shoulder.

“Okay, but its not funny. ESPN is a cable ….” Maura shakes her head trying to understand.

“Maura, ESPN and ESP? Come on you get it? That’s the joke.” Jane says frustrated. “Jeez, you’re the dumbest genius I know!”

“It only takes an IQ of 150 to be a genius Jane and mine is quite a bit higher than that.” Maura says modestly. 

Rolling her eyes, Jane takes another sip of her beer and then knocks Maura again with her shoulder.

“Jane, why are you doing that? I don’t understand the purpose?” Maura says delicately taking a sip of her wine.

“It’s equivalent to a boy pulling your hair in grade school…” Frost says boldly.

“What? No, its just a thing, not an I like you thing. Don’t you see me do that to Frankie and Tommy?” Jane quickly explains shooting daggers at Frost. 

“Oh, you don’t like me?” Maura asks feigning confusion. 

“Yes, of course I like you. Frost see what you started?” Jane empties her beer and pushes the empty towards her partner, “Get us another round!” She demands.

Now its Maura and Frost’s turn to laugh at Jane. ‘I was just joking Jane, of course I know that you like me.” Maura replies smirking. 

“Frost! Beers now!” She bellows, turning beet red. 

The younger detective jumps up and goes to the bar. Meanwhile, Jane and Maura exchange sidelong glances and Maura leans over and knocks Jane’s shoulder which makes Jane laugh.

“Thank you again for coming over last night, that was some freaky situation. Do you really believe all this sixth sense mumbo jumbo?” Jane asks seriously.

“Jane, there are a number of studies that show people in law enforcement have developed their sixth senses to a heightened degree of awareness. In fact, what you commonly refer to has your gut, is really your intuition or sixth sense.” Maura responds, then finishes her glass of wine, just as Frost returns with another round. 

“Well, my ESPN tells me that the Knicks are going to beat the Sixers and this game is over.” Frost says gesturing to the TV above them.

Groaning, Jane responds, “Thank god Opening Day is only a month away!” 

***

Leaving the Robber, Maura looks for her cab. “This cab company is terrible. I called them 20 minutes ago and they’re still not here.” She says annoyed.

“Just come back to my place, tomorrow’s Saturday anyway.” Jane says grabbing her arm and leading her down the street.

“It is a nice evening for a walk.” Maura says brightly. 

“And I think I have another bottle of that Chateau Saint Whatever it was…” 

“Oh, good. That 2011 Ethos Merlot was a real surprise find, Jane. I was quite impressed by that vintage.” Maura says as they walk down the street arm in arm. Smiling secretly to herself, pleased with the evening’s turn of events. 

Unlocking her front door, Jane calls for Jo Friday. “Jo, come here Jo. Let’s get you out good girl.” Picking up the leash from the side table, Jane says to her friend, “Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be right back.”

Watching Jane and Jo leave, Maura stops to take her shoes off. Then walks over to the kitchen, reaches in to the pantry and grabs the bottle of wine. Crossing back to the kitchen to get the wine opener, Maura opens the wine and lets it breathe. Then she goes into Jane’s room and pulls out a pair of yoga pants and an old Red Sox t-shirt to put on. 

By the time Jane returns from walking the dog, Maura has found a movie and is about to pour her second glass of wine. “How was the walk?” 

“Fine. Hey did you find a movie for us to watch?” Jane asks locking the door and crossing over to retrieve a beer from the fridge.

“Yes, you’re going to love it. ‘The Sixth Sense” just started.” Maura responds. 

“Wait is that the one with the “I see Dead People” creepy kid in it?” Jane asks sitting down on the couch and taking a long sip of her beer.

Nodding, Maura moves over and picks up the blanket for Jane to scoot under, then she slips her feet underneath Jane’s legs. Jane looks over at her, “What? You know once my feet get cold they’ll be cold all night, you don’t want them cold all night do you?” 

“No. I hate your cold feet.” Jane admits taking another sip of her beer.


	3. Chapter 3

“Nice movie choice, Maur.” Jane says standing up and stretching. “I’m going to brush my teeth and change clothes,” she says yawning and leaving the room. 

Maura stands up stopping to pick up Jane’s empty bottle on her way to the kitchen with her own wine glass, she pauses and looks around Jane’s apartment, it is amazing how comfortable she feels here. Smiling she walks into the bedroom and sees that Jane has turned down the bed and hung up her clothes that she left laying over the chair. She’s never had a friendship like this. Until Jane, the only time she slept over at someone’s place was if she was in a relationship with them. Well, she thinks, this is a relationship. It’s just not sexual. I wonder if Jane’s ever had a sexual relationship with a woman. Is that something I should ask her? 

“Earth to Maura!” Jane is standing beside the bed trying to get her attention.

Shaking off her thoughts, Maura looks at her friend and says, “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“Did you set up the coffee? I want to sleep in tomorrow…” Jane says sitting down on the bed.

“I did not set up the coffee. We should get up and go for run tomorrow morning.” Maura says laying back and getting into the bed.

“Ugh, I know. But doesn't a 9 am run sound nice?” Jane says hopefully as she turns off the light.

“We’ll see.” Maura responds softly. 

“What’s going on, why are you so quiet. Usually once we lay down, you start emptying your brain of all the random questions that have occurred to you but you have no context to ask.” Jane asks as she turns to look at her friend.

Pausing to consider the opportunity now presented, Maura decides to go for it. “Is this normal for adult women to sleep over at each other's place? I just have no basis for comparison, the only time I have slept over at someone’s place it was sexual.” 

“Is this your odd way of telling me that you’re attracted to me?” Jane asks raising up on her elbow.

“Jane, answer the question.” Maura counters.

“Well, I don’t know. Now that you mention it, I really haven’t had sleep overs with friends since high school and college. But some of those were… wait, you didn’t answer my question?” Jane counters back.

“Jane, you’re a detective and I can’t lie. Do you honestly think that I could hide that from you?”

Laying back down to consider that point, Jane asks, “Well, you could if you were a cyborg. Maura, would you tell me if you were a cyborg?”

“No, I don’t think that I would.” Maura responds closing her eyes.

***

As they finish up their run, Jane can’t help but notice that Maura has been preoccupied and not her usual chatty self. “Okay, Maura what is on your mind today? If I’d have known that you were not going to do your google-mouth thing today, I’d have brought a headset.”

Stopping to stretch on a bench, Maura considers if she should ask Jane the question that’s been on her mind since last night. “When you had sleepovers in high school and college, were they usually with women?” 

“Yes, Maura. Of course they were. Usually with teammates, we’d hangout after practice or something and stay up late, then sleepover. Why are you asking about this? What are you really trying to ask me?” Jane says flatly.

“Okay, then I’ll just ask. I mean you know that I went to boarding school…” she starts nervously… 

Jane reaches out to stop her from stretching and makes her sit down on the bench together.

“Maura, you can ask me anything, we are friends.” Jane says to reassure her again. 

“Have you ever been with a woman?” Maura finally blurts out. “I mean I have, but I’m sure that’s not surprising to you, I’ve often talked about sexual fluidity, but something you said last night made me think that maybe you had and it surprised me.” 

Almost choking on her water bottle, Jane looks at her and smiles, then looks down. “I will answer your question, but its between us. This is not a topic of conversation for anyone else’s ears, especially anyone with the last name Rizzoli, capisce?  
Then putting her arm on the back of the bench and leaning into speak privately, Jane says. “Yes.” Then pulls back away and takes another pull of her water bottle.

Maura then opens her mouth to ask another question, when Jane puts up her hand. “We are not having this conversation here on a bench just down the street from our office. This is a conversation that we will have over dinner preferable at one of our houses with at least one bottle of wine, probably two.” And with that she holds up her car keys and jogs off in the direction of their parking garage.

Maura laughs and gets up and runs after her. Catching up to her as Jane gets into her car, she calls out. “Okay, I’ll make dinner, you bring the wine!” 

“Deal!” Jane says as she pulls away.

Finishing up some paperwork at her dining room table, Jane looks at the clock. Its almost 4 pm, so she she should take Jo for a walk before she gets cleaned up and why not walk over to that Wine Cellar that she found a few blocks over and get wine for tonight. Better text Maura and find out what to get, she thinks picking up her phone.

Jane: Red or White?  
Maura: Get a Malbec for dinner and that Spanish Carmenere for dessert.  
Jane: Dessert too? Glad that we ran today.  
Maura: ETA?  
Jane: 8?  
Maura: not funny. The wine needs to breathe and I made bruschetta.  
Jane: kidding! dinner at 8 = 7 pm, I know!

Smiling she sets the phone down and picks up Jo’s leash. “Ready for a walk, JoJo?” She asks, as the little pup jumps up from her bed and starts running around, always happy to be going for a walk. As they leave, Jane grabs her wallet, phone, keys and the neoprene wine carrier that Maura gave her for Christmas, now that she found this wine shop, the carrier has been very handy. 

***

“Hey, the wine lady suggested a Sangiovese to go with the Bruschetta, but I wasn't sure if it would go with dinner, so I brought a Malbec and the Carmenere too.” Jane says walking into the house and going directly to the kitchen to set the wines down for Maura’s appraisal.

“Three bottles of wine? This must be some conversation we’re having tonight my friend!” Maura teases. 

“I don’t have much to tell, but I’m assuming that you do, so yes. We’ll need at least this many to get through this conversation!” Jane sasses back. 

Picking up each bottle and checking the vintage, Maura smiles at Jane. “What exactly does this wine lady look like?” she asks.

“Uh, well…” Jane blushes a little, “Maura! See this is why I don’t talk about this stuff with my ‘friends’.” Frustrated, Jane walks around to retrieve two wine glasses from the cabinet. 

“Jane, friends should talk about these things. It’s no different than when we talk about guys at the gym. These are nice wine selections, if you’re not interested in her, then I want to meet her…” Maura says playfully, grabbing the wine opener. 

“She’s in her early 30’s, just moved back from France after finishing her Sommelier’s test. She had a great job in New York, but her grandmother got sick, so she moved back to Boston and opened a wine shop here, in her grandfather’s former clock shop.” Jane says as she watches Maura pour a little bit of wine into her glass and swirl it around. “What does that do exactly? I see you do it all the time, yet I don’t know why? 

Stopping for a moment in her process. She pours a little bit of wine into Jane’s glass and holds it up to the light, “This allows you to see the body of the wine and check out its tears.” 

“Now you’re just making fun of me.” Jane says setting the glass back down. 

“No, I’m not. See the body of the wine? This Sangiovese is a medium weight wine due to the fruits and tannins. The Tears are what the French believe demonstrate the quality of the wine, but it’s actually been proven that its just physics that cause the wine to tear down the glass.” Maura then passes the glass under her nose. 

“Now what are you doing?” Jane asks repeating the motion.

“Swirling the wine releases the bouquet and many wine connoisseurs like to identify different properties in the wine before they taste it. We should really sign up for a wine tasting, I’d think you’d enjoy it.” She remarks as she samples the wine. “This is an excellent vintage. Here try it with the bruschetta, the fig and goat cheese should pair well with it.” 

“Okay. Well, I was really hoping that I’d like this wine, especially since its Italian. Ma, thinks I’m a heathen since I don’t like Chianti, but this is way better than Chianti.” Jane remarks.

“Jane, the Chianti that your mother buys is barely drinkable, that’s why you don’t like it. She buys a common vintage that's barely even aged, its practically juice.” Maura says lightly. “That’s not to say all common table wines are bad, in Italy some of the best wines I’ve ever tasted have been served in small trattorias near Turin.” She adds.

Reaching over and grabbing the bottle and pouring more wine into each glass, Jane can’t help but comment, “I need to win the lottery soon, so I can go to Italy and see for myself!”

“Actually, Jane you don’t need to win the lottery. We have a small villa outside of Turin. I’d love to show you Italy.” Maura says wistfully.

“Of course they do.” Jane says smiling. “Remind me why you work again?” She adds teasingly. 

“You know why I work. It’s the same reason that you do. I’m good at my job and I enjoy it. Now, let me tell you about each of these bruschetta toppings.” She says pulling the detective around the counter and pointing at each one and describing the toppings.

While Maura is plating the linguini with shrimp and pesto cream sauce, Jane pours water into each of their glasses on the table. Then she picks up the wine again and looks at her friend confused, “Wait, I don’t know much about wine, but shouldn't I have gotten a white wine to go with this dinner?” She asks walking over to the wine cooler in the corner to pick out a white wine.”

“No Jane, this one pairs perfectly with the pesto sauce. Trust me.” The doctor says setting the plates down and picking up the opener and handing it to Jane. 

“Wow, Maur, this sauce is really excellent. And I do like this wine with it. There are not many white wines that I like with food.” 

“Jane when it comes to wine and food, you should always just drink what you like. Once you learn a little bit more about wine, you’ll understand how to pair food and wine. Its really not that difficult.” 

“Says you. You've probably been drinking wine your whole life. Isn't that what they do in France, let the kids drink wine instead of milk?” Jane says with a smirk, standing up to clear the table.

“It is true that I tasted wine as a child, but children’s livers are not fully functioning until well into their late teens, so early alcohol consumption can cause serious problems in young children.” The doctor replies “And leave those dishes in the sink. Bring the rest of that bottle of wine and join me on the couch.” 

Feeling quite relaxed by the wine and the tempo of the evening, Jane decides to start the conversation on the defense, if she can get the other woman talking then maybe it won’t be so weird. “Maura, how many women have you been with?”

“Mmm, I prefer not to quantify sexual encounters. But I will say that I’ve had two relationships with women. One was a young teacher at my boarding school my senior year and the other was during my residency at John’s Hopkins.” 

“Your teacher? Wait, I think I saw that movie, ‘Loving Annabelle' wasn't it?” the detective says teasing her.

“You've seen that movie? Oh Jane, no this woman was only a few years older than I was. She was a Senior in college and had just turned 21.” Maura explains. 

“Was she your first?” Jane asks tentatively. 

“Well she definitely was my first sexual encounter with a woman, the others were just girls in school. Sexual experimentation does occur in boarding schools.” she explains.

“Well it certainly occurs in high school, especially on team buses late at night.” Jane replies, blowing her chance to stay quiet. But actually its not as uncomfortable as she thought it would be, after all, its just Maura and they do tell each other almost everything, of course after tonight, they may not have any secrets left, come to think of it. 

“Really?” Maura responds in her best imitation of Jane. Which initially surprises Jane, then she gets it. 

“Nicely done Dr. Isles. You think mocking me will get me to open up to you, is that it?” Jane reaches over and gets the bottle and tops off their glasses. Bottle two is done.

Sticking her feet out to push them under Jane’s legs, Maura smiles at her friend, “So, who was your first? A teammate or a coach?” This question almost causes Jane to choke on her sip of wine. 

“Maura! A coach? Really?” Jane sets her glass down and then laughs, “Okay, she was an assistant coach and she was a junior in college. Happy now?” 

Faking surprise, Maura covers her mouth in shock.

Picking up her wine glass again, Jane continues her story. “I had the biggest crush on her, I just didn’t really understand what I felt, you know. I just thought she was so cool. She had a car, she lived off campus. I’m sure you can imagine how much I wanted to be out of the house and away from my brothers. Not to mention Ma. And Cheryl was a great field hockey player, I was the tallest girl on my team, so I didn’t have much competition in practice unless I talked Casey in to working with me outside of practice. But then these two college girls showed up at practice one day and started working out with us. I know it was because I was trying for a scholarship to BCU and the coach there sent them to work with me since they were both student teachers, they could interact with me, but the BCU coach couldn’t because of NCAA rules. Any way, it just so happened that Cheryl and I hit it off immediately and we were inseparable. We had so much in common and I don’t think I would have gotten through high school without knowing her. Even after she moved away we were still friends.” 

Stunned by how much her friend shared with her, Maura takes another sip of her wine and then asks, “Where is she now? Do you still have contact with her?” 

“Actually, she lives in Revere with her wife and two kids. I used to play a pick up game of field hockey there on Sundays." Jane pauses thoughtfully. Maura gently moves her feet under Jane's leg prodding Jane back to reality. "I wonder if they still play? I guess I haven’t seen her since in about 5 years. Once they had two kids, the Sunday field hockey games didn’t happen very often, then I got promoted to the DCU and well, you know the rest.”

Picking up her friend’s feet from underneath her, Jane begins to gently massage them. Then asks, “so tell me about your other girlfriend.”

Groaning with delight at the foot massage, Maura relaxes and begins telling Jane about Rebecca, the brilliant neurologist that she dated her fourth year of med school. 

“Do you find it interesting that when we told each other about our past relationships with men, it didn't take this long and we've both dated more men than women.” Jane remarks walking back from the retrieving the other bottle of wine and opening it. 

“Oh, interesting. I see your point.” she adds as she jumps up to get the blackberry tart out of the warming tray and quickly plates it and brings it over. “Oh, wait. I almost forgot the vanilla bean gelato.” She says turning back around to the kitchen.

Opening the Carmenere and pouring it into their glasses Jane waits patiently for Maura to return. 

“God Maura this looks amazing. If I married you, I’d be big as a house!” 

“No I don't think you would. We would work out more and have an amazing sex life," she states as Jane almost chokes on her wine. 

Then setting down her dessert and picking up her wine glass she adds, "You know I’ve never lived with anyone but my parents. 

Not willing to respond to the first remark, Jane instead takes the bait and responds to the second one. “You never had a roommate in college?” 

“Uh no, actually. I lived in the cottage house at the Isle's estate all through BCU and my residency at Hopkins. Aside from an occasional overnight guest, which my parents never knew about since they traveled so much, I have always lived alone.” 

“Wow, I mean I know you told me that, but I didn't really consider it. And here I invaded your house two years ago and you just let me.” 

“Well, I’ve never had a friend like you Jane. Mostly, people tolerate me because I’m smart and successful, but you actually seemed to like me for me. I could tell that immediately, well not immediately because I upset you at first at that crime scene, then in the lab I upset you again. And you were so loud. I couldn't imagine how I was going to ever get along with you. But then all the sudden you brought me coffee to that early morning crime scene and then helped me back to the car when I broke the heel off my shoe. I’m not really sure how it happened, really.” Flustered and a bit worked up, Maura starts to stand up.

Jane quickly pulls her back down and holds her hand as she says, “Well let me explain it to you then." Holding up her hand she says, "One, you shouldn't wear stilettos on cobblestone!” Maura punches her lightly in the arm, and then Jane continues. “Two I acted like an ass at the crime scene because you were a woman and if I wasn't the guys would start razzing me about girl talk and all that crap. But then I realized how smart you were and how good of a coroner you were and I decided to screw all that posturing bullshit and I would close more cases working with you. And I was right. You are brilliant, and so am I because I was smart enough to see it.” She says smugly, setting down her empty plate. “And the joke’s on them because those dumb asses don’t get to enjoy your wonderful cooking and witty repartee.” 

Sitting beside her friend, Maura can’t help but smile tearfully, so she leans over and knocks shoulders with her friend and says, “Then they are dumb asses, because they don’t get to enjoy your wonderful sense of humor and amazing grilling abilities. I can’t wait until Spring, I am buying a new grill in homage to your grilling abilities my friend!” 

“You are? Oh, will it have the side burner for the sauce and a thermometer on the outside?” Jane asks excitedly.

Picking up her wine glass Maura proposes a toast to their friendship. In another hour and a half they have polished off the second bottle of wine and are both dozing on the coach. Waking up and looking around a moment, Jane realizes that they should go to bed, so she gently wakes up Maura, “Maur, come on, let’s not sleep down here on the couch when you have an amazing bed upstairs for us to sleep on.” 

Jane gets up and walks over to the front door and makes sure it is locked, while Maura goes to the side door and checks it, then sets the alarm. Jane picks up the bottles and puts them in the recycling bin, then looks over at the sink and sees that Maura snuck in there and loaded the dishwasher and tidied up the kitchen. 

Following Maura up the stairs in the fog of too much wine and so much late conversation, it dawns on Jane that Maura is right. This isn't normal, but what is it?


	4. Chapter 4

Waking up Sunday morning, Jane is surprised to find Maura still in bed with her. Raising up on one elbow, Jane looks fondly at her best friend, Wow, she can sleep in. I wasn’t sure that was an option.

Startling awake, Maura looks around the room and then sees Jane staring at her and smiles. “Good morning, have you been awake long? She asks stretching and rolling over to lay face to face with the brunette.

“Not long. How is it that you look ready for a photo shoot already this morning?" Jane asks.

Maura pauses to consider what Jane has said then shakes her head, sits up and turns to put her feet on the floor. Searching for her slippers, she asks “What do you want to do today?” now with her slippers on, she heads to the bathroom.

“I need to go home and get ready for the week. You know, groceries, laundry, throw out all the take out containers that have accumulated from the past week…” Jane says getting out of bed and stretching.

Maura sticks her head out of the bathroom and asks, “Oh. Okay. I guess I need to do that as well. Will you stay for breakfast?”

Nodding, Jane heads downstairs, turns on the coffee maker, punches in the alarm code, then steps out the front door to get the paper. Walking back to the kitchen, she carefully pulls out the sports page and sets it down on the counter. The rest of the paper she smooths out and sets in front of the chair nearest the corner of the counter. Then she sees Bass, so she opens the refrigerator and pulls out a few of his leaves and strawberries and sets them down for him to eat.

Hearing Maura on the stairs, Jane pulls down two cups and sets them in front of each portion of the newspaper. 

Maura walks into the kitchen, looks down at Bass eating his breakfast, so she stands in front of the coffee maker for a moment then asks, “Omelets or crepes?” 

“Omelets, if there is bacon.” Jane replies looking up from the sports page. 

Smiling, Maura replies, “We have pancetta, which is better than bacon!” Then the coffee maker beeps indicating that it is through brewing, so she picks it up and pours it into both cups. Setting the pot back down, she grabs the sugar bowl and a spoon and sets both in front of Jane. 

Barely looking up from her newspaper, Jane adds a spoonful from the sugar bowl into her cup and stirs, takes a sip and says, “I think I’m getting used to this Stevia stuff, when I put sugar in my coffee now it tastes funny.” 

Smiling, Maura sips her coffee and then starts preparing breakfast. 

Suddenly, the theme from the Twilight Zone plays indicating a call from Jane’s mom. 

“Yeah Ma, what’s up?” Jane asks answering the phone.  
“Did you ask Tommy? How am I supposed to know, he was the last one to use it.” She listens to Angela’s response. “Ma, call Tommy. I don’t know.” She looks over at Maura and rolls her eyes.  
“I can help later, if and I mean IF he doesn’t return your call. But I’ve got a lot to do today. Okay? Just let me know.” Hanging up she quickly calls Tommy and leaves a message, “Call Ma! Don’t make go over there today. Haul your ass out of bed.” 

Satisfied with herself, she sets her phone down. Then quickly picks it back up and texts Frankie. “Ma needs you to stop by later.”

“You threatened Tommy, then told Frankie to go over there?” Maura says frowning at her friend.

“Hey, if you had brothers, you’d understand how this works. I’m the oldest, I don’t have to spend my days off helping Ma, as long as they are single, that’s their job. Plus, its Tommy’s fault she needs help anyway.” 

Setting the omelets down on counter, Maura pour more coffee and then sits down beside Jane.

Taking a bite of her omelet, Jane looks up and says, “My god this is good. Maura, if you ever decide the whole medical examiner thing isn't working for you, I think you should open a restaurant.” 

“No, I don’t think so Jane. I prefer to cook what I like, when I feel like it.” Maura replies thoughtfully.

***

Finishing up a load of laundry Jane hears Fancy playing on her phone, so she drops the clothes she was folding and grabs her phone, “What’s up Maura?” 

“I hope you changed my ringtone like I asked, the Funeral March is embarrassing.” She replies.

“Don’t worry, I updated your ringtone. Is that why you’re calling me? ” Jane teases.

“No, of course not. I’m putting together my drycleaning to drop off tomorrow morning and I wondered if you wanted me to put the two suits that are here in for cleaning as well?”

“Oh, sure. I have court next week and I’ll need at least one of them for that. Thank you. Oh and I just washed your workout clothes that you left here the other night. So we are ready for yoga on Tuesday night, schedule permitting as usual.” Jane adds. 

Hanging up the phone, Maura smiles and heads into her mediation room, where she turns on Yo Yo Ma and then sits down into a full lotus position. 

***

“What’s up Maur, I’ve got 3 minutes…” Jane says answering her phone as she pulls up to the office building and watches Frost park his car. 

“I have tickets to the symphony on Saturday, I think you’ll like it. 8 pm?” She asks quickly.

“I’m in as long as it’s not Yo Yo Ma, he puts me to sleep.” She replies, “Send me the link and I’ll check it out later. Gotta run.” She says hanging up and putting her phone in her pocket. 

“Frost holding the door open for his partner and says “I'm guess Maura hasn't heard her new ringtone yet?”

“What? Not yet, no." Jane smiles brightly, "Now, let’s go see what this guy has to say about the vic.” Jane says as she passes by him. “God I hate cold cases.”

Back at the precinct, they review the file and create a timeline on the board. Jane reviews the past interviews and Frost pours over the victims financials and phone records. After a couple of hours, Jane gets up. “I’m going for coffee,” she announces leaving the bullpen.

Walking into Maura’s office, she is not surprised to see her at her desk. “Hey can you take a look at the autopsy on this cold case?” Jane asks entering the office and stepping up to peek at Maura’s screen to see if she is working or shopping.

Smirking because she was able to prevent Jane’s snooping, she looks up and asks for the case number. Jane leans over and writes it down quickly, “you up for a drink at the Robber tonight? Today is going so slowly, it already feels like Wednesday?” the detective explains.

“No, I finally got into that Spin class at the gym and it starts tonight.” Maura says excitedly.

“I’d rather run a marathon than take a spin class.” Jane says as she walks to the door, “Let me know if you see anything in that report that we've overlooked.”

Walking into the cafe, Angela walks up to her daughter as she's fixing a cup of coffee and says, “Jane, your brothers are so thoughtful, they both came over yesterday and we got the garage organized and I can park in it again.” 

“Well most of that crap is theirs, so they should help you with it.” Jane replies. “Ma, I gotta get back upstairs, but I’ll see you later. Love you.” Jane sticks a couple of dollars into the jar and heads back upstairs.

“Where are we? Did you solve it yet?” She asks hopefully, setting his coffee down on the desk.

“Yeah right! Did you ask Maura to review the file?” He asks as she sits down at her desk.

“Yeah, why?” the dark haired detective asks. 

“She’s already unarchived the files and has sent me a list of questions about the victim.” Frost says smiling. 

“Okay, let me pull up her email and see what she’s asking.” Jane types in her password and starts to read. Soon, she is combing through the case file pulling out the documents that she needs to answer Maura’s questions about the scene and the victim. 

“Rizzoli! Come in here, you too Frost. I need to know where you’re at on this cold case.” Cavanaugh yells from his office door. 

Jane hits print and grabs her notes off the printer as she walks by into the Lieutenant’s office. Frost follows her and motions, that she has his print out as well. She looks at the documents and passes two of them to him. They spend about 20 minutes reviewing it with him and he tells them to work half a day on it tomorrow and he wants another progress report, if they don’t have anything to go on, then they box it back up and move to the next one. 

Walking back to their desks they look up at the clock. 5 o’clock on the dot. ‘Eight hour days don’t come along very often,” Frost says logging of his computer. “I’m going to make it to the Monday night pick up game in time to get on the good team!” He says wadding up a piece of paper and taking a jump shot.

“Nice shot player,” Jane says sarcastically following him out the door.

***

“Wait, the Symphony event has Opera music? This is like a 2-fer? I get Opera and Symphony points for one show?” Jane got back from her run and finally pulled up the link Maura sent her earlier.” 

“Points Jane? Really?” Maura asks confused.

“I get points for going to your stuff and you get points for going to my stuff.”She says simply as if it should make perfect sense to the doctor.

“How long have you been keeping track of this?” Maura asks.

“Ever since that first time I went to the opera with you. Why do you think I wanted you to go the Opening day with me last year?” Jane replies.

“Wait, so for each cultural event I invite you too, you’ve countered with a sporting event?” Maura asks to make sure that she understands.

“Of course, I’ve got to get something out of doing these things that I don’t want to do, its only fair to make you do something that you don’t want to do.” 

“And making me happy by attending with me isn't enough?” Maura asks indignantly

“Oh, well yeah. Of course, but can you honestly admit that you are going to all these sporting events just because it will make me happy, or is it because I went with whatever with you.” Jane counters. “Look just think of it as the friendship version of quid pro quo.” She adds.

That makes Maura laugh loudly into the phone. “Okay, that I understand.” Maura relaxes onto the couch.

“So we’re good now? How was your spin class?” The detective asks opening up a beer and taking a long drink.

“It was an amazing workout, I see why there’s a waiting list for the class. I am about to take an ice bath to help me recover.” Maura replies.

“You’re a better woman than I am. I can barely take a cold a shower, let alone sit in a tub of cold water.” Jane shivers at the thought and sits down on her couch. “Frost went to play basketball, so I got in a 3 mile run tonight. I have some new thoughts on the cold case, so I’m going to make some notes. Are you picking me up in the morning?” 

“Yes, be ready at 7:15 and we can stop at Boston Joe’s.Good night Jane.” 

“Okay, setting my alarm now. Night Maur.” Jane says setting the phone down and picking up her laptop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, bare with me, this is going a little slow but I'm setting up the story... stick with it, Rizzles is endgame.


	5. Chapter 5

“Oh Janie, I have a box of your stuff from the garage, come get this and take it with you.” Angela says as Jane and Maura enter the cafe for coffee. Jane overslept, so they did not stop at Boston Joe’s this morning and apparently God is punishing her. 

“Ma, I didn’t drive today, where am I going to put this?” Jane says annoyed.

“My office has plenty of space, Jane.” Maura says, peeking around to see in the box. “Oh, is that a photo album?” She asks hopefully. 

Reaching into the box, Jane sees her cleats from high school, Senior yearbook and a two photo albums. “Okay, I’m definitely not leaving this in the bullpen all day. Maura, will you promise not to snoop through it if I leave it in your office?” Jane asks her best friend. 

“I will not snoop, but you will show me at least one of those photo albums after yoga tonight.” the doctor replies pushing Jane out the door and waving to Angela.

In the elevator, Maura can’t help but ask, “is that your Senior yearbook? So all this is from high school?” 

“Most of it, this one is the scrapbook Ma put together of all my stuff from sports, grade school through college.” Jane explains as she follows Maura off the elevator. “I want this out of sight. Maybe I should take it out to your car?” 

“Don’t you have a meeting in 5 minutes?” Maura asks her.

“Crap. Yes, okay here’s the deal. If you hide this for me and don’t snoop through it, I will show you the photo albums. Capisce?” The doctor nods, taking the box and pushing it under her desk.

***

The morning goes by quickly as Maura’s review of the cold case autopsy didn’t yield any significant leads, but her questions help them to reevaluate the scene. By noon, they have tracked down the detective who first investigated the case and who is now retired and he gives them some recordings of the initial witness interviews. Turns out he had just gotten a new micro recorder from his wife for his birthday and he used it along with the one issued from the department. Jane and Frost decide to compare the two recordings and see if there’s anything missing from the one they've already heard. Cavanaugh decides to give them a few more hours on this case, so they head into the conference room to tackle the tapes.

*** 

Maura sets her salad on her desk and as she sits down she hits the box with her feel. She moves the chair and pulls the box out so she can sit down, but then keeps looking down at it.  
As tempting as it is to sneak a peek, she does not want to endure the wrath of the Jane, so she reaches over and pulls down a medical journal to read. 

“Maur! You won’t believe it. We solved the cold case.” Jane announces bursting into the office.

“Fantastic Jane, but why are you here and not arresting the bad guy?” Maura asks looking up from her salad.

“Oh, he’s already dead. But I need your guys to do a DNA match on some old evidence. Frost is typing up the request now,” the detective says coming around the desk. Seeing the box out, she looks up quickly to Maura’s face questioning whether she has snooped through it.

“I didn’t look through it.” Maura says flatly, closing the journal that she’s not really reading.

Satisfied, Jane stoops down and picks up her yearbook and walks over to the couch and sits down. Opening the book with one hand, Jane pats the couch beside her with the other. Maura smiles and joins her on the couch.

Silently, they look through the yearbook, until they come to a photo of Jane helping to decorate for prom. “You were on the prom committee?” Maura can’t help but ask loudly. 

“Yes, I’m not a neanderthal. My friend Zoey needed help, so she conned me into it.” Jane explains. “The best part was I was able to attend without having a date, since Casey was in boot camp.” She adds. “Ma wasn't too happy, but she made me get a dress.”

“Oh Jane, that’s a gorgeous dress.” Maura says. Jane has turned the page to the Prom Committee page, it has a photo of them before and after. “Who is this?” the doctor asks pointing at a small blonde with great dimples smiling beside Jane in both photos.

“That is Zoey.” Jane says pausing a little too long. “Hey, I better get back upstairs. You’ll let us know when you get the results?” 

‘Of course, Jane.” She replies as the detective closes the yearbook and deposits it back in the box and then leaves with a small wave. Maura is intrigued and can’t help herself, so she sits down at her desk, pushes the salad away and pulls her laptop to her and Googles, “Zoey Roberts” The search yields quite a few results and photos, the dimples are unmistakable. It would appear that Jane’s high school friend is now a successful attorney in Chicago. 

Zoey Roberts, graduated Radcliffe in 1999, where she was coxswain for the crew team, then Northwestern for law school. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from both schools. Partner at Gilderoy, Martin & Associates. International Contract Law, speaks French, Italian, and Japanese.

“Dr Isles?” Susie knocks lightly as she enters the office. “Did you see the request from Detective Frost?”

“I was just reviewing it, have you started it yet?” Maura knows that Susie is more than capable of handling this request.

“No, I was just checking with you first to make sure you weren't going to do it yourself.” She says waiting for Dr Isles to respond.

“Go ahead Susie. I’m working on the Miller report.” Maura replies, looking down, she smiles to herself and realizes that Senior Criminalist Susie Chang must have saw Detective Rizzoli in her office. 

***  
“Let’s just stop at Whole Foods, I’d like to get Vegan take out tonight and you could stand to eat light after hot yoga too.” Maura says as they get into her car. 

“Fine, I’d even eat just a salad tonight.” Jane replies as she takes a long pull on her water bottle and settling back in the passenger seat.

Glancing over to verify that Jane is her passenger, Maura is a bit surprised, usually Jane hates to go into Whole Foods, hot yoga = compliant Jane, duly noted.

Climbing the stairs to Jane’s place, they decide to each take a quick shower before eating. Jane tells Maura to go first and she heads back down to get the box from her mother’s house. She takes Jo with her to give her a short walk. coming back upstairs she feeds Jo. 

Setting the box on the dining room table, Jane pulls out the two photo albums and the yearbook. Seeing those photos of Zooey at prom had brought back a lot of memories leaving Jane quite distracted the remainder of the day. Paging through the photo album, she realizes why, Maura and Zooey could be sisters. No wonder she fell into such an easy relationship with the doctor.

“Good memories?” Maura asks pausing to enter the room.  
“Mostly, yes.” Jane says looking up and smiling in admiration at her friend.  
“Jeez Maur, after hot yoga and a shower, you’re not supposed to look that good. Its unnatural!” she teases.

“I took a cool shower and its quite refreshing,” she says walking over and resting her hands on Jane’s shoulders and lightly massaging them. 

“Oh, that’s nice.” Jane says groaning into the massage.

“Is this your friend Zoey? She also played field hockey?” Maura asks looking over Jane’s shoulder at the photo album. 

“Hmmm, is that why you’re massaging my neck, so you can look at the photos?” she asks sarcastically.

“No, you already said we’d look at the photos. I’m massaging your shoulders because despite how relaxing yoga is, you always manage to look tense afterward.” Maura says lightly kissing her friend on the head. “Now go take a cool shower and you’ll feel much better”

Standing up and stretching a little, Jane turns around and gives Maura a quick hug. “Thanks.” 

Smiling, the doctor watches her friend walk out of the room. Then goes over and opens the fridge and pulls out a pitcher of water and pours two big glasses. No wine tonight or we won’t be able to move tomorrow she thinks. By the time Jane returns from her shower, Maura has plated their take out and set everything out on the dining table. The photo album left open to where Jane left it.

As they eat in silence, Jane closes the album and looks up at Maura. “I have to tell you, I’m very distracted today because I just realized something. I haven’t thought of Zoey in years, but now that I have, I’m realizing how much you remind me of her. I always thought it was odd, how easy it was for me to feel comfortable around you and now I know why.” Jane explains.

“It looks like you were close in high school. Where is she now?” Maura asks.

“Chicago, Japan, Italy, France…she’s an attorney, international law. She negotiated contracts for US companies doing business overseas. Last time I talked to her she was going to Italy for a month to negotiate a winery deal and she tried to get me to visit, but it was right after I was promoted to DCU.” 

“So you haven’t talked to her since?” Maura asks.

“Well, she heard about the Hoyt thing, her Mom must have seen it on the news and she emailed me from somewhere, Japan I think. Then again after the shooting at BPD, she called me but I didn’t call her back.” As she talks, Jane is tracing her finger over a photo of Zoey from high school. “Zoey is a topic that will take at least one, maybe two bottles of wine to discuss.” She says standing up and clearing the plates. “Do you want an ice cream bar? I have those Coconut fruit bars, that tastes like pie...” 

“Pie on a stick.” Maura finishes Jane's sentence. As they eat their treats, Jane pulls out the yearbook and they go through it together. After about an hour, Maura heads home.


	6. Chapter 6

Walking into the bullpen the next morning, Maura is surprised to see Jane talking on her office phone with a big smile on her face. Pausing for a moment, the doctor looks around and sees the office is empty. She can’t get over how animated Jane is on the phone, dying to know who could have this effect on her best friend, Maura walks over and sets a cup of coffee on the detective’s desk and then sits down at Frost’s desk and pretends to look at her phone.

“Yes, yes. Okay, that sounds perfect. I’ll see you then. Bye.” Jane hangs up the phone and looks over at Maura. “Thank you for the coffee, Maur.” She says glancing up at her friend.

“You’re welcome Jane.” Maura says leaning forward, “Are we still on for lunch today?” 

“Yes, provided nothing comes up between now and then.” Jane says as she starts typing on her computer. 

Maura waits a moment then gets up and leaves without saying a word. She is confused that Jane didn’t share with her who she was talking with on the phone. Obviously, its someone Jane hasn't seen in a while and is excited to see again. 

Looking up from her computer, Jane is surprised to see Frost sitting where Maura was just a minute ago. Oh no, she looks picks up the coffee that Maura brought her and is surprised to find it empty. Then looking at the clock, she sees it’s almost 9:30. Jeez, after getting off the phone with Cheryl, she’s spent half the morning researching field hockey coaching guidelines and drills. Picking up her empty coffee cup and tossing it in the trash, she looks over to Frost and says, “Hey, need coffee?” 

He looks up and shrugs, “Yeah, thanks Jane. Hey did you look over that report from Chang?” 

“Not yet, was it conclusive?” She asks pausing at the door.

“Yes, we got him. He’s dead and all, but at least we can close the cold case.” He replies enthusiastically as she leaves the room.

***

“Hey.” Jane says as she leans in to Maura’s office. “Sorry about earlier, I was just distracted by that phone call.” She says trying to explain without telling the whole story. 

“Yes, I gathered.” Maura says without looking up. 

Uh oh, Jane thinks to herself. She’s pissed. Walking over to Maura’s desk, Jane sets the cup of Chai tea down. This time, the doctor looks up, the cup is from the tea shop down the street, so Maura picks up the cup and takes a small sip. Hibiscus. “Thank you.” She says simply and goes back to her report.

“Okay then, well… I’ll be back around 1 o’clock for lunch.” Jane says backing slowly out of the room, unsure of what is happening between them. 

Maura takes off her glasses and rubs her temples. Unsure why Jane is being both secretive and apologetic. Perhaps she’ll talk about it over lunch when we’re away from the office, the doctor thinks.

***

Knocking lightly on the Lieutenant’s door, Jane waits for him to look up. 

“Yes detective?” He says waving her into the office.

“Hey, I just wanted to clear a community activity with you. I’ve been asked to help coach a youth hockey league through BAC, practice twice a week and games on Sunday afternoons. Practices start next week and the spring season runs April to June. Will this be a problem sir?” The detective knows its not a problem, but she also knows that Cavanaugh likes to approve this stuff, so he knows what they are doing if they miss a call out. 

“Not a problem, detective. But Youth Field hockey? How’d you get roped into that?” he asks.

“My old coach called me this morning and asked for my help and well, you’re always telling us to do more community stuff, so I figured that this would be one I would actually like to do, so win-win.” She adds laughing.

“Very well, just work it out with your team to cover your on-call weekends. And good luck Rizzoli, you’re gonna need it.” He says laughing and picturing the short-tempered detective surrounded by kids beating each other with field hockey sticks. 

Frost and Korsack are also supportive and even ask her to give them a schedule so they can attend a few games. Looking at the clock again, she sees that she’s got about 25 minutes before lunch, so she sits back down to check her email. She sees the Miller report from Maura and two emails from Cheryl about coaching. One has a form that she needs to fill out and submit for approval to the Boston Athletic Club, they do background checks on all the coaches. Jane opens the attachment and prints it out, then opens the second one and reviews it and marks it for later. 

Pulling up the Miller report, Jane scans it, nothing new in it though, so she marks it for later. Looking at the clock she sees that she still has 15 minutes, so she pulls the form out from BAC and starts filling it out. Pretty basic stuff, it takes her 3 minutes to complete it. Then she gets up and heads downstairs, maybe Maura can go early too, she hopes.

As they walk down the street to The Cafe on New Chardon, Maura knows something is up. First Jane walks down her to get her tea this morning, and now, they are headed back here for lunch?  
Curiosity getting the better of her as they approach the cafe, Maura pauses on the sidewalk and reaches out to stop Jane.

“Is there something that you need to tell me? Is that why we’re here for lunch?” She asks.

“Yes. When I came to get your tea earlier, I noticed they had that African peanut butter soup that you liked so much, so I thought we should come here for lunch today.” Jane explains simply.

“It’s Peanut soup.” She replies, correcting her friend. “Are you sure that is all you have on your mind today?” She prods a little more.

“Well, actually. I do have something that I’d like to talk with you about and I didn’t want to do it at the station. So let’s get a table, if that's okay with you?” The lanky detective says holding the door open for the doctor. 

Maura orders the special and Jane orders her usual, Grilled Chicken club with extra pickles and homemade seasoned chips. As the water fills their tea glasses, Maura looks up at Jane and waits patiently for her to start talking.

The waiter leaves and Jane begins, “Um, I just agreed to coach youth Field Hockey at the BAC, beginning next week through the middle of June.” she blurts out.

“You what, wait? Field hockey coaching?” Maura is so totally caught off guard, she responds with incomplete sentences. She was positive that phone call this morning had to do with Zooey coming in to town. 

Now it’s Jane’s turn to look confused. “Maura I played field hockey all through school, why is it such a surprise that I would agree to coach it?” 

Quickly recovering Maura replies, “Jane I’m not surprised about the field hockey, I’m surprised that you’d agree to coach, kids. You do realize youth league is kids right?” 

“Of course I know that youth league is kids. I played youth league field hockey! Jeez Maur, do you not think I can do this?” 

“Jane, that’s not it at all. It’s more that I’m wondering why you’re doing it?” The honey blonde asks earnestly, leaning over the table. 

“Well, my former… coach Cheryl, called me this morning and asked me too. Her wife is pregnant again and they usually coach together, but she’s due in July, so they don’t think she’ll make it through the whole season.” Jane explains further.

Maura relaxes, now it makes more sense. Exes can get you to do anything. 

The food comes and as they begin to eat, Jane continues to talk about the coaching commitment and everything it will entail. Maura smiles and nods. A little taken aback to see this side of Jane, Maura can’t help but smile thinking about how animated Jane is talking about coaching field hockey. 

As they walk back to the precinct, Jane is finally winding down. Pausing in the street and reaching out to Maura’s arm, she says, “I’m sorry. I’ve totally monopolized our lunch with all this field hockey talk.”

Turning to put her hands on the lapels of Jane’s blazer, Maura can’t help but smile, “I understand and I actually don’t mind. It was nice for a change. I probably know as much about field hockey as you do about fencing.” 

Jane considers this for a moment, then realizes how this probably looks to people on the street. So she takes both of Maura’s hands in her own and then drops one and tucks the other one, so they are walking arm in arm. Ever since, their talk last weekend Jane has noticed that they do this often. No wonder there are so many rumors about her and Dr Isles. And the detective is pretty sure that the boys have a betting pool about them. In the past six months, she’s noticed the stares at crime scenes. As they approach the precinct, Jane drops Maura’s arm and moves away from her slightly, so they are no longer touching. 

Maura glances sideways at Jane about to say something when she hears Frost call out their names. Walking towards the two ladies and dropping his phone back into his pocket, he says, “Hey, we got a floater.”

“Awesome.” Jane says sarcastically. Then looking over at Maura she says, “I’ll ride with Frost, see you there.” 

Maura sighs. Then grabs her phone and calls Susie to ask her to pull around and pick her up. It will be easier to take the Coroner’s van to the scene, she doesn’t have everything that she’ll need for this scene in her Prius. 

Pulling up to the dock, Maura has already changed clothes in the back of the van, while Susie drove. Once Susie pulled up and told Maura more about the scene, Maura decided to put on her wet suit so she could go into the water and record as much information as possible about the scene before they removed the body. In fact, Maura already called the dive team and told them to hold up until she got there. 

As Maura approaches, the lead diver greets her and begins to explain the situation to her, she nods and walks over to the boat to get in. The trip out to the buoy takes about 5 minutes, by that time, Maura has strapped on her scuba gear and tank. Susie hands her the underwater camera and Maura splashes over the side, two additional divers go in with her and they swim down to the body which is suspended by a rope and weighed down with a diving belt. Maura hands the camera to one of the divers and he begins recording her examination. She motions him close to show the knot in the rope, the abrasions on the man’s hands and face. Then motions for him to swim around to get the other side of the body. Then she signals to him to move in close as she cuts off the dive belt and lets it drop. Its too heavy for them to remove the body with the belt attached and it isn't a custom belt, so it won’t help them. 

As the three divers surface, the body is pulled up and secured on the boat on a tarp. Susie has recorded the extraction and as Maura climbs in the boat, Susie helps her remove the tank, BCD and hood, then hands her boss a towel to dry off with. The water is about 45 degrees and the air is about 55, so as soon as they get back in, Maura will need to remove her wet suit and put on a Tyvek to stay warm. The nice thing about wearing a dry suit is her clothes are dry underneath. 

As they pull up to the dock, Jane reaches out to help Maura off the boat and Frost stands off to the side. 

She moves over towards him and Jane sees her blue lips and says, “Jeez Maura, you’re freezing.” Jane looks around to see if they've set up the coroner’s tent yet. they are just attaching the flaps, so she pulls Maura over towards it and motions for Frost to follow. As they enter the tent, Jane helps Maura strip off the wet suit and then making sure her yoga pants and shirt are dry, she helps the doctor step into the Tyvek suit. The other divers have joined them under the tent and are doing the same. But Jane can’t stand to watch Maura shiver, so she takes off her blazer and wraps it around her. The starts rubbing Maura’s legs and feet to get the circulation moving.

“Detective, that’s enough. I’m fine.” Maura pushes the detective away. A bit embarrassed by the detective’s attention, and not wanting to look weak in front of her subordinates, the ME hands Jane back her blazer and grabs one of the extra warming blankets and wraps it around her shoulders. 

“Okay, okay, Dr Isles.” Jane says backing off. “So what did you find out down there?”

“Nothing really. We just recorded the scene.” Maura replies. “Susie, are we set up now for the preliminary examination?” 

“Yes, Dr. Isles.” Senior Criminologist Susie Chang follows Maura over to the body and begins reviewing what she has done so far. “As expected, the body temp matches the water temp. There is putrefaction around the head, neck and shoulders, as well as a possible head injury here.” She points to the left side of the head. “But it could be a diffused scalp hemorrhage, we’ll know more we do a complete autopsy in the lab.” Chang explains as Maura leans over the body and looks more closely.

“Thank you Susie.” Turning to Frost and Jane, she adds. “Time of death is more than 14 hours, but not more than 3 days.” Zipping up the body bag and motioning for the coroner’s staff to move the body into the van, Maura takes off her gloves and turns around to face Jane. “Rope burns on the hands and face indicate a struggle, possibly murder. But give me an hour in the lab and I’ll have a more definitive answer.” 

Jane stands there watching Maura leave the scene and says, “That’s not much to go on. A time of death window that long and an unidentified vic doesn’t give us much to go on.” 

“Okay, I’ll see if any of these dock security cameras are operational and check their footage.” Frost says heading back to his car. “Jane do you want to ride back with me?”

“Yes, I’ll be right there.” Jane says turning to Korsack, “Will you stay here and supervise the uniforms who are canvassing? I’m going to go back to the station for the autopsy and I’ll keep you posted.” 

“Sure Jane.” The older detective replies.

Turning to get into the car Frost can't help but comment, "You have to admit it, Dr Isles is a badass ME. Can you see Pike in SCUBA gear?"

"Ew, now you made me picture him in swim trunks. Thanks for that!" Jane says sarcastically. "Let's go see Dr Badass at the morgue." She adds smiling.


	7. Chapter 7

Stopping in the Cafe, Jane gets two cups of coffee and prepares one for herself and the other for Maura. She can only imagine how cold a person can get diving in 50 degree water, dry suit or not. 

Walking into the morgue, she spots Maura coming out of her office bathroom in her black scrubs. She looks almost as good in those scrubs as she does in the wet suit. Knocking lightly to get the Doctor’s attention, Jane leans in the doorway. “Hey, Dr Bad ass…” she says softly.

“I’m sorry, but you were being over-protective in front of everyone. You wouldn't let me get away with that now would you?” She says grabbing the coffee and taking a sip. “Thank you by the way for this. Diving in cold water always gives one a certain chill that is hard to shake.”

“I can imagine, they made our squad do the Polar Plunge when I was in uniform. I wore thermals for a month at least.” Jane replies, shivering at the memory. 

“I hate the Polar Plunge, it is really dangerous for most people to do. I am surprised that we don’t have more fatalities. Cold water causes immersion syndrome, fortunately most people who do the Polar Plunge have enough sense not to put their head under the water.” the blonde doctor says putting her hair up as she steps into her clogs that she wears in the lab. 

Walking together into the lab, Maura motions to the rack by the door. “Gown up detective, this one will be messy.” 

Walking over to the bench and sitting down to put on shoe covers, Jane asks, “What do you have so far?”

“The body scan shows that his skull is fractured on the left side and his left shoulder is dislocated.” Maura says as she pulls on her helmet and face shield on to protect herself from getting splashed from the saturated corpse during the exam, Maura looks over at Susie Chang and nods for her to start the recording. 

Jane keeps her distance and just listens to Maura’s examination comments.

“Detective, Susie was able to get a couple of prints that might be usable, we’ll run them now and see if we can get an ID for you.” Maura motions for Chang to pause the recorder and run the prints.

Pulling up her face mask for a moment, Maura looks over the implement tray and picks up the #23 scalpel. Turning the recorder back on, she steps back to the body, pulls the mask back down and begins making the Y incision. 

Jane walks over to the computer to wait for a fingerprint match. As soon as she gets comfortable, the machine beeps to indicate a match. Looking at the photo and the guy on the table, she’s not sure. She takes out her phone and takes a picture of it and sends it to Frost upstairs. “Find out if this is our guy?” We got a 5 point match on three fingers, she explains.

Moving over to the lab computer, she quickly types in the guy’s name from the match, Jeffery Dorman. The nearest one in the database is an attorney, who lives over in Back Bay. He’s 42 years old, divorced with a 12 year old son. 

“Did we get an ID?” Maura asks.

“Maybe, it’s only a 5 point match on the three prints, so I’ve asked Frost to verify.” She explains. “Any ideas on how he died yet?”

Pulling out the lungs and laying them out carefully, Maura states, “He most likely was unconscious when he went into the water, as he did not aspirate any stomach contents, and there are no signs of frothing which usually means he drowned quickly.” 

“Well a head injury,a dislocated shoulder and a 30# weight belt would explain how he drowned quickly all right.” Jane says as her phone rings.

“Frost, what’d you get?” She asks immediately.

“According to his assistant, Jeff Dorman is on a business trip to New York but she hasn't spoken with him for two days, which she said is unusual for him. She contacted his ex-wife, but hadn't heard back from her yet. Jane, this might be our guy.” Frost adds.

“Okay, will you send the DMV photo to Korsack’s phone and I’ll call and tell him what I have so far? Thanks Frost.” She says hanging up. 

Turning back to Maura, she asks “No one’s talked to this guy in two days, any chance you can confirm time of death in that window?”

“Possibly. Give me an hour.” Maura replies turning back to the autopsy.

Back in the bullpen, Jane has Frost processing a full background check on Dorman. 

“Have we located his 2010 Mercedes C300 sedan?” Jane asks Korsack.

“We have found one near the dock, but there’s no plates on it. We've contacted a dealer to help track the owner down, but we can’t get into the vehicle to locate the VIN.” Korsack explains.

“What about the wife? Did we ask her for the spare set of keys?” Jane asks.

“It’s an ex-wife, and she doesn’t have access to his car or house any longer.” Frost replies.

Thinking for a moment, she asks, “What about phone records?”

Frost jumps up and grabs some papers off the printer, “Here’s his phone records from the past week. Notice that there’s nothing past 6 pm on Tuesday.” 

“Wait, he never left Boston?” She asks raising her voice excitedly. “The trip to New York was bogus? Were you able to figure out his last location?” Jane asks looking over the print outs. 

“First things first, I'm the realest  
Drop this and let the whole world feel it (let 'em feel it)  
And I'm still in the Murda Bizness”

Smiling Jane picks up her phone, “Yes?” 

Frost busts out laughing, but Korsack doesn’t get it.

Jane tosses a pen at Frost and motions for him to pipe down. She walks towards the hall to get away from him. “Ok, thanks. I’ve got it.”

“Frost! Jeez pull it together!” Jane says returning to her desk.

“Does Dr Isles know that is her ring tone Jane?” Frost asks taking a breath to stop laughing.

“Of course not!’ Jane replies. “And you better not tell her.”

“What did Dr. Isles say, Jane?” Korsack asks trying to bring the conversation back around to the case at hand.

“Forensics has confirmed time of death to be approximately 48 hours, so sometime on Tuesday after 6 pm.” Jane replies. “I think we should get a warrant for Dorman’s house so we can get DNA to compare.”

“Let’s wait until after 6 pm, then we can go to Judge Johnson for the warrant.” Korsack replies, always knowing which judge to present which warrant to.

***  
Maura is sitting in her office going over reports and waiting for Jane’s team to bring back items from the victims’ house for DNA comparison. She wants her tech to log everything and send it off for analysis, hoping that they can have results by morning. Hearing the elevator ding, she looks up expectantly and sees Frost and Jane walking towards her office, she gets up to meet them at the door. Gesturing to the log book in the lab, she says, “Go ahead and log it in detectives, I have Criminalist Miller waiting for it.” The blonde doctor explains. Miller comes over and accepts the evidence, nods to Dr Isles and walks off with the bags. 

“Ready to get out of here?” Jane asks her friend.

“Quite ready. This has been a very long Thursday.” The doctor exclaims.

“Seriously.” Jane adds. Looking around to see that Frost is gone. Jane asks, “Let’s grab some Thai food and I’ll take you home.”

“Jane, its hot yoga night.” Maura replies.

“Maura the class started 15 minutes ago and I’m starving.” Jane says whining a bit.

“So we’re running in the morning then?” Maura counters.

“Yes, let’s stop by my place and get my running stuff.” Jane says as Maura puts on her coat. 

Later at Maura’s the two best friends sit on the couch watching a Discovery Channel segment on a guy who made a goose drone for his daughter so she could track a migration flight for her fifth grade science project. 

“I don’t know what is more surprising the fact that the guy made the drone, or the fact that the kid actually did the project.” Jane says setting her empty beer bottle down on the table. 

“Jane, that is very cynical. You really wouldn't help your child with a project like that?” Maura asks.

“Maur, my child wouldn't be working on a project like that. Your child yes, my child no.” Jane explains.

“That’s not true at all, Jane. There are many instances of exceptionally smart children being raised by parents of normal intelligence.” Maura tries to explain.

“Thanks, I think.” Jane says sarcastically as she stands up to stretch.

Shutting off the TV and picking up her empty wine glass and Jane’s empty beer bottle, Maura heads to the kitchen. “Well let’s go to bed, so we can get up early and run.” Maura says shutting off the lights.


	8. Chapter 8

Parking in front of Maura’s house, Jane pauses to look at herself in the mirror, she hasn't worn her hair up like this in years, but she felt like surprising Maura tonight and even bought a new dress and shoes. 

Walking up to the door, Jane’s phone rings. She looks at it and doesn’t recognize the number so she let’s it go to voice mail. Just as she’s about to knock on the door, it opens. 

Maura stands in the open door with her mouth open. She didn’t expect Jane to wear a dress tonight, especially one that looks like it was made for her. 

Stepping up to the doorway, Jane reaches out and puts her finger under Maura’s chin and closes her mouth. “So this is what it takes to make you speechless?” Jane says sauntering past the astonished doctor.

“Uh, Jane you look gorgeous. Is that new?” Maura all but stutters.

“Yes. Are you surprised that I managed to go shopping without you?” Jane can’t help but enjoy herself, it’s not often she can pull off surprising her friend like this and if she admits it, it’s really kind of nice to feel sexy and stunning for a change. Maybe she understands now why Maura enjoys looking like this so often. 

Recovering from shock and enjoying this sexy, confident version of her friend, Maura turns around and grabs her clutch and then walks over to lock the front door. As she walks towards the side door, Jane smiles. “Yes! We’re taking the Mercedes.”

“You know, I’d be happy to drive tonight,” Jane says as climbs into the passenger seat of the black sports car. 

“Nice try Detective, maybe if you’re good tonight, you can drive home?” Maura replies playfully.

“Oh, it’s on Doctor…” the raven haired women says thickly, dark eyes sparkling dangerously.

Backing out of the driveway, Maura can’t help but gasp as she catches Jane’s face in the side mirror. She almost misses the gear, but covers it up by letting the car roll back out of gear. Jane notices it and throws back her head to laugh at her befuddled friend.

***

Pulling up to the Symphony, Maura lets the valet take the car and puts the ticket in her clutch. She then turns to look at Jane again and smiles broadly. She can’t help but glance around and notice people staring at them. They make a stunning couple, Maura’s emerald green dress and Jane’s sapphire one complement each other beautifully. 

Jane pauses at the curb and waits for Maura to come around the car. Then reaches out and offers her arm as Maura steps up from the street, which now has them entering the building arm in arm. Smiling broadly, Jane can’t help but enjoy making an entrance. Usually, she feels awkward going to these things with Maura, but this time, she decided to rise to the challenge and she has to admit, it feels really good to be on the offensive for a change. 

Entering the lobby, Maura is pleased to see the reception is just beginning, this is what she loves about attending opening night. Jane hands her a glass of champagne and then holds her glass up for Maura to clink. Smiling brightly, Jane sweeps across the room with her eyes and suddenly stops mid sip. Her whole body tenses up, Maura senses the change and looks up at the detective and follows Jane’s sight line to a couple that appear to be father and daughter, but its hard to tell these days. The woman isn't looking this way, so Maura can’t tell who it is, but obviously Jane knows and isn't happy about it. 

Needing to break the spell and find out what’s going on Maura speaks, “Jane, what is it?”

“Nothing Maura. Um, excuse me. I’m going to visit the ladies room. I’ll be right back.” Jane sets her glass down and darts behind Maura as she leaves. Maura watches the blonde woman and she finally turns around and Maura gasps in recognition. 

“Maur, these new shoes are killing me. Can we go ahead to our seats?” Jane says softly leaning into Maura’s ear from behind her. 

Pivoting around to face the taller woman, Maura is surprised to be greeted with dazzling dimples and sparkling dark eyes looking down at her. “Oh, yes.” She says looking over to an usher.  
“May we go ahead to our seats?” She asks the man, handing him her symphony season pass card.  
“Right this way Dr. Isles.” He says walking over to the curtained entry to the side stairs leading up to the second floor balcony seats. Maura’s family has had these same seats since she was a child. Maura actually loves to be seated early so she can watch the musicians setting up. 

Sitting down, Jane immediately takes her shoes off and flexes her feet. Maura glances at the program for tonight’s performance and is still considering whether to say anything to Jane or just wait to see what happens. 

Just as Maura decides to say something, another couple joins them in the balcony box. They are friends of Maura’s parents so she talks with them while Jane fiddles with her phone.  
Turning back around Maura is surprised to see Jane reading the program, phone out of sight.

“Maura which Puccini Opera did we see last year?” Jane asks her looking up from the program.  
“Last year was Verdi's La Traviata. The year before was Puccini’s Tosca,” Maura says smiling.

“Oh, so I haven’t seen Manon Lescaut? I was listening to these at lunch yesterday and this one sounded familiar. Are you sure?” Jane asks again.

“Wait, you what? Really?” Maura is thrown by this un-Jane-like behavior. 

“Okay, remember the other night when I was telling you about the point system? Well it occurred to me that it’s not equal, because you actually prepare to go to sporting events with me, so I should make a similar effort,” she explains. 

“Oh.” Maura says finally understanding what is going on with Jane. The new dress was Jane’s version of showing up in a jersey. “Well, I have to admit, it is a pleasant surprise to be discussing operas with you instead of listening to you complain all night.” Then she remembers the Puccini Collection that she has on CD, “Jane you have heard that before, I have a Puccini CD collection.”


	9. Chapter 9

Leaving the Symphony, Maura surprises Jane by getting in the passenger’s seat of her car. Jane barely contains her excitement at getting to drive home. There is something quite magical at pushing the button and having the car roar to life and it make the detective giggle like a child every time. 

Pulling into the garage at Maura’s, Jane can’t help but look over at Maura and smile.  
“This was the best night.” She says setting back in the driver’s seat.

“Yes, it was. Thank you Jane.” She says reaching over to squeeze the other woman’s hand.

Looking down at their hands, Jane takes a deep breath and reaches over to cup Maura’s face and turn her towards her. They hold each other’s gaze for a moment until they both begin to lean in and suddenly they are kissing. Softly and nervously at first and then they both pull back. They lock eyes again and suddenly Jane scrambles out of the car. Maura calls out, but then her door opens and Jane is pulling her out of the car. Standing up on her own, Maura pulls Jane in to her and they kiss again, this time much harder and Jane shuts the door and leans in pressing Maura’s back against the car and then they break apart, each gasping a bit.

Maura smiles and Jane looks around the garage. “Maybe we should go inside,” she says backing away and giving Maura room to move. Silently, they make their way into the house and Jane takes off her shoes and stands for moment, just waiting to see what to do next. She actually didn’t plan this far. Driving home, all she could think about was kissing Maura. Now that she’s done it, she is a bit overwhelmed. 

Maura walks over to the front door and turns off the porch light. Then she resets the alarm. On her way back to where Jane is standing she pauses, then detours over to the refrigerator and grabs their two workout bottles of water. Walks back over to Jane and puts one in her hand, then takes the other hand and pulls her towards the stairs.

“Maura, wait.” Jane hesitates. 

Maura stops, then steps up on to the first stair and turns around to face Jane, her hands on the taller woman’s shoulders. ‘What are we waiting for?” Maura whispers thickly into Jane’s ear pausing on each word and moving down her neck with soft kisses until she gets to her pulse point, then she applies pressure with her tongue until Jane gasps.

“Waiting is a bad idea.” Jane says thickly, as Maura begins backing up the stairs, with Jane barely keeping pace with her. 

In the bedroom, the two woman break apart long enough to unzip each other and carefully step out of their dresses. Maura opens her walk in closet long enough to toss the dresses onto the settee and close the door. Turning around she can’t help but admire the detective’s long lithe body as she envelopes her. Reaching around the taller woman, Maura easily releases her bra and then reaches one hand up behind to release her own. Jane pulls the bra away and cups the breasts that she has so often admired. Bending down slightly, she kisses each one and then gently rubs the nipples with her thumbs. They have now managed to move close enough to the bed, that they sink down and fall over gently. Laying face to face, Jane reaches up and caresses Maura’s face. 

“Maur, I just need a minute to wrap my head around this, okay?” 

Catching her breath, the doctor closes her eyes and pulls Jane close. Their bodies touching like this is a bit overwhelming for her too. 

“Jane, I’m sorry. I just didn’t realize this and when you kissed me, everything makes sense now. I don’t know how I didn’t know this, but my God. Wow…” she just stops talking, because Jane is running her hands along her body and it feels electric. 

“Wow indeed.” Jane says smiling as she presses her lips softly to Maura’s again, kissing slowly and pulling their bodies together, so they are completely touching skin to skin. 

Pulling back from the kiss, Maura looks into Jane’s eyes again. “I have to admit, when I saw Zooey at the symphony…”

At the mention of Zooey’s name, Jane tenses up and physically pulls back from Maura. 

“You recognized?” Jane questions.

“Jane, of course. You mentioned that we look a like, so how could I not recognize her?” Maura replies, then she pulls back and sits up. “Wait does this have something to do with her?” She panics.

“No. Maura. No. Zooey and I didn’t have that kind of relationship exactly.” Jane tries to explain, but now she feels awkward sitting on Maura’s bed half naked. Standing up and going over to the dresser where her things are, Jane puts on a tank top and tosses Maura one. “Maybe I should explain…” Jane says going back over to sit on the bed beside Maura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, I have to stop for the night, two short chapters, but I have definitely gained some momentum. What do you think?


	10. Chapter 10

Mentally kicking herself for ruining the moment, Maura puts the shirt on and faces Jane waiting for her to continue.

“Zoey and I had a complicated friendship. She was hurt when I started hanging out with Cheryl and once she realized that we were intimate, she well, she was, well, devastated.” Jane says her voice breaking slightly.

Maura reaches out to take Jane’s hand and moves a little closer to her. Jane relaxes a little at the contact and the doctor smiles.

“I was just a teenager and what I felt for Zoey was really confusing. It was a combination of wanting to be her and be with her… I know that doesn’t make sense. Even now it sounds weird…” She says looking over to Maura.

“It makes sense to me Jane. It’s not uncommon to admire someone, whom you also find attractive.”

“Anyway, we were never the same after that. Even after my relationship with Cheryl ran its course and Zoey and I were friends again, it just wasn’t the same. Of course, it didn’t help that I started seeing Casey. But somehow my relationship with Casey didn’t bother her as much as the one with Cheryl did.” Jane admits as the tension she felt initially is disappearing. She relaxes back onto the pillows and puts her arm around Maura, who takes the clue and curls up beside her.

“Jane have you and Zoey ever talked about any of this?” Maura asks softly.

“Sort of.” Jane says as she runs her other hand through her hair. “The summer after our first year of college away from each other, we went out one night. Of course, we were drinking and goofing around teasing each other and one thing led to another and I kissed her.” The detective smiles at the memory, then looks down at the doctor before continuing the story. “Zoey kissed me back and then we made out in the basement of my parents house. About the time we were removing clothes, Tommy interrupts us and ruins the moment.” She pauses and reaches over to grab the water bottle from the table beside the bed, takes a long drink and offers it to Maura.

Maura hands it back to her and Jane continues. 

“Zoey gathers her stuff, says ‘Perfect’ and leaves in a huff.” I followed after her and there we are in the street in front of my folks house having our first honest talk about how we feel. It was bad, she called me a tease and said she was done with me. It was my turn to be devastated. I spent the whole summer trying to get her to talk with me, but she was impossible.” 

“But you must have gotten through to her eventually, you seem to have been in contact with her since then.” Maura comments.

“Yeah, she came to my graduation from the academy. And then I went to her graduation from Radcliff with her parents. By then we were back to being friends, but still not as close as before.” Jane says with a sigh, “God Maura, I’m sorry all this came up tonight. Talk about a mood killer.” 

“Well, Jane you did warn me weeks ago that this would be an intense topic. I just… this is so new, and I just want us to be clear on what we want. This has changed our relationship, obviously, and although it was a bit of a shock to me at first, I realize now that we’ve been building towards this, our level of intimacy with each other has increased in the last few weeks.” Maura says thinking looking carefully into Jane’s eyes gauging her reactions.

“Yes, it has.” Jane agrees. “I think that’s why this came up tonight when you mentioned Zoey. My feelings for you are complicated in the same way mine for her were. The difference is that I’m no longer a confused teenager and I know what they mean and I’m not afraid of them.” She says, her voice breaking a little as she pulls Maura’s face up to hers and kisses her.

Deepening the kiss, Maura tangles her hands into curly locks and Jane moans a little, adjusting her position so that their bodies can have more contact and the detective can be on top of her. In a flash, Jane removes her shirt and slightly lifts Maura up to remove hers smoothly.

Maura can’t help but spread hot kisses over Jane’s neck and collarbone, sucking on her pulse point, but not trying to leave a mark. Jane gasps at the intensity and bends her head down to suck on erect nipples and nuzzle luscious breasts.

Maura moans and encouraged, Jane continues working her way down the honey blonde doctor’s toned body, pausing a moment to look up at Maura, she sees an intensity there that she can feel throughout her body.

Plunging fingers into her slippery center, Jane takes her clit into her mouth and sucks until Maura cries out, then releases it and continues to explore. Feeling her tighten up and barely able to move her fingers, Jane pushes her over the edge, feeling her come undone and cry out her name.

“J-J-Jane...m-y g-g-o-d...’ Maura says breathlessly. 

Moving to lie beside her, but careful not to remove her hand, Jane smiles at the aftershocks that cause Maura to tremble. 

Regulating her breathing, Maura recovers quickly and rolls over to top the detective. Surprised, Jane lets her pin her arms over her head and is happily distracted by hot kisses along her neck and collarbone. However, the good doctor doesn’t stop there. Teasing Jane’s body with her own erect nipples, Maura trails her tongue and fingers along Jane’s lithe torso. Moaning as she works her way down the athletic body, Maura sufficiently distracts Jane until she can plunge her tongue into her hot wet center causing the detective to gasp loudly in surprise. Carefully, inserting two fingers into the slick folds and exploring as Jane begins to moan her name loudly… “F-u-c-k Maur… don’t s-s-stop that’s … so, so-o, g- g-ood…

Maura loves that Jane is becoming undone so easily, but she doesn’t want to rush, so she backs off and moves her tongue back up to erect nipples, while still maintaining a rhythm with her other hand. Jane can’t help but ride the hand, although completely distracted by the attention to her nipples… suddenly, she’d swear Maura had more than two hands.

“J-jesus… Maur… don’t stop, I n-n-ee-d more… Oh, g-god…” Jane goes from begging for more to undone in the blink of an eye and Maura can’t help but feel confident about it. 

“Maur...Maura.” Jane cries out as she reaches climax and her whole body trembles. “Stop, don’t stop…” She calls out, unsure of what she needs but completely overtaken by the reverberations of intense orgasms. 

Carefully moving up to lay beside Jane, Maura can’t help but smile as she sees Jane trying to put herself back together. Not bad for a first time, not bad at all, she thinks as she drifts off.


End file.
